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TMQ Watch: January 28, 2014 (part 2).

Wednesday, January 29th, 2014

Where were we? Oh, yes: cheerleaders.

(more…)

Posted in Clothing, Food, Law, NFL, Pants, Sports | 4 Comments »

TMQ Watch: January 28, 2014 (part 1).

Wednesday, January 29th, 2014

We were wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong! This is appropriate, as part of TMQ’s column this week is the “bad predictions review”.

Why were we wrong? We predicted last week that TMQ would use this week’s column for lots of gratuitous TV bashing. Instead, there’s pretty much…none.

So how does TMQ fill column space in this, the most boring week in football? After the jump, this week’s TMQ…

(more…)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Law, Neuroscience, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Random notes: January 28, 2014.

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

Yeah, yeah, Pete Seeger’s dead. A couple of reactions I liked: Tam. Travis McGee Reader.

One additional thing you have to like Pete for: giving a name to one of the great combat aircraft of our time.

How unethical do you have to be in order to be denied a law license in California? This unethical.

Or do you? I’ve seen a fair number of people posing this as Glass being unfairly denied a shot at redemption. After all, his crimes were nearly twenty years ago, they argue, and for the past ten years he’s not only kept his nose clean but done “exemplary” work as a clerk for a law firm.

And I’m not unsympathetic to the “shot at redemption” argument. I don’t hold any brief for Glass, or his behavior, and it bothers me a little that I’m more willing to give him that shot than I was Michael Vick. I need to search my soul a little more over this.

But the hand wringing is a little more offputting. Those arguing in favor of Glass seem to be missing some key findings:

The record also discloses instances of dishonesty and disingenuousness occurring after Glass’s exposure, up to and including the State Bar evidentiary hearing in 2010. In the New York bar proceedings that ended in 2004, as even the State Bar Court majority acknowledged, he made misrepresentations concerning his cooperation with The New Republic and other publications and efforts to aid them identify all of his fabrications. He also submitted an incomplete list of articles that injured others. We have previously said about omissions on bar applications: “Whether it is caused by intentional concealment, reckless disregard for the truth, or an unreasonable refusal to perceive the need for disclosure, such an omission is itself strong evidence that the applicant lacks the ‘integrity’ and/or ‘intellectual discernment’ required to be an attorney.” (Gossage, supra, at p. 1102, italics added.)

And:

Our review of the record indicates hypocrisy and evasiveness in Glass’s testimony at the California State Bar hearing, as well. We find it particularly disturbing that at the hearing Glass persisted in claiming that he had made a good faith effort to work with the magazines that published his works. He went through many verbal twists and turns at the hearing to avoid acknowledging the obvious fact that in his New York bar application he exaggerated his level of assistance to the magazines that had published his fabrications, and that he omitted from his New York bar list of fabrications some that actually could have injured real persons. He also testified that he told his lawyer to work with Harper’s Magazine to identify his fabrications, yet evaded questions concerning whether his lawyer had done so, while insisting that he took responsibility for an inferred failure to follow what obviously were significant instructions. He asserted that he had been too distraught to recognize that the list of fabrications The New Republic gave his lawyer was incomplete — or that in his response he had denied that articles including the egregious Taxis and the Meaning of Work were in fact fabricated — while acknowledging that within a few days of his firing he made arrangements to reschedule a final examination for the end of the exam period and did well on the exam he took within a week of his exposure. Indeed, despite his many statements concerning taking personal responsibility, and contrary to what he suggested in his New York bar application, it was not until the California Bar proceedings that he shouldered the responsibility of reviewing the editorials his employers published disclosing his fabrications, thus failing to ensure that all his very public lies had been corrected publically and in a timely manner. He has “not acted with the high degree of frankness and truthfulness” and the “high standard of integrity” required by this process.” (Gossage, supra, 23 Cal.4th at p. 1102, italics added.)

This strikes me as being less “a bunch of snobs who don’t want to let a reformed man in” and more “we found ongoing evidence of dishonesty and deceit by this person who is supposedly reformed and asking us for special consideration”.

I totally missed this one until today:

A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday convicted state Sen. Roderick D. Wright on all eight counts in his perjury and voter fraud trial…
In a trial that began Jan. 8, prosecutors accused Wright of faking a move to a rental property he owned in Inglewood so he could run in what was then the 25th Senate District.
They accused him of lying on voter registration and candidacy documents and of casting ballots in five elections he was not entitled to vote in from the Inglewood address.

(Sen. Wright’s party affiliation is actually mentioned in the second paragraph, which I trimmed for space reasons.)

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, Media, Music, Obits, Planes | Comments Closed

Quickie followup.

Saturday, January 25th, 2014

A while back, I wrote about the strange case of Brian Mulligan, who may (or may not) have been high on “bath salts” and may (or may not) have been assaulted by the LAPD, but was definitely suing the department.

Well, the case went to trial, and…

…the jury found for the LAPD.

Not sure I have any feelings about this one way or the other; I was pretty skeptical about both sides and their respective stories. But I did want to make note of the verdict if, for no other reason, than the historical record.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: January 21, 2014.

Friday, January 24th, 2014

It is official. It is now impossible for us to care any less about the Super Bowl (or, as some are calling it, “The Pot Bowl”) than we do now.

But we still have this week’s TMQ to get through after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Food, Law, Neuroscience, NFL, Planes, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Closed

Random notes: January 22, 2014.

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena!

He is the walrus, goo goo a joub.

Is Gary Kasparov trying to buy the presidency of the World Chess Federation?

Two months earlier, Kasparov and Leong negotiated a deal in which Leong would help Kasparov’s presidential run in exchange for $500,000, according to a draft contract reviewed by The New York Times. Kasparov also agreed, after his election, to open a new federation office in Singapore, to be run by Leong, for which he would be paid an undisclosed amount.

“Leong” is Ignatius Leong, who lives in Singapore and is the current general secretary of the federation. He serves under the current president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also running for re-election to the federation presidency. Kasparov’s spokespeople say that draft contract has been superseded. But if Kasparov is trying to buy the office, would that be a bad thing? In the last election

…Ilyumzhinov, who has been president of the federation since 1995, defeated Karpov, 95 to 55. Much of Ilyumzhinov’s support came from Asia and Africa, and many votes were cast by proxies.

(“Karpov” is Anatoly Karpov. You know, the former world champion and the Karpov who played Kasparov.)

And this is interesting:

Ilyumzhinov was, by any measure, a strange choice. He was a businessman who was born in Kalmykia, an impoverished Russian republic on the Caspian Sea, and amassed a fortune after the fall of the Soviet Union, though exactly how and how much are something of a mystery. He was largely unknown within the chess world, though he had been elected president of Kalmykia in 1993, at age 31. He stepped down from that presidency in 2010.

So he’s an ex-politician who went into chess?

Ilyumzhinov is well known for his eccentricities. He has said that he believes the game was invented by extraterrestrials, and he claims to have been abducted by aliens in yellow spacesuits on the night of Sept. 17, 1997. He built Chess City, a huge glass dome surrounded by a housing development, in Kalmykia’s obscure and inaccessible capital, Elista, and had the federation hold championship tournaments there.

Ilyumzhinov was also tight buddies with the late unlamented Muammar Qaddafi.

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! Part deux.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas acknowledged Tuesday that a taxpayer-funded project to install a security system in a converted garage at his home involved improvements “over and above” that job, but said he reimbursed the county for the upgrades.
The Times had disclosed that county-paid crews worked at the supervisor’s Leimert Park home for a week and replaced the garage’s interior walls, installed electrical wiring and equipment, and put in appliances, including a wall-mounted air conditioner and heater and a television.

How the Statesman got scooped on the Wendy Davis story. (No paywall.)

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Geek, Law, Media, Politics, Texas | Comments Closed

You could hear the music on the AM radio…

Friday, January 17th, 2014

When was the last time you listened to the radio?

Actually, I still do, mostly when I’m driving around with Mom and Jeff Ward is on. If I’m alone in my own car, though, radio has become to me something like a buggy whip.

But there are some people who still need buggy whips, such as the Amish. And there are some people who still need radios. Like Federal prisoners.

The pocket analog radio, known by the bland model number SRF-39FP, is a Sony “ultralight” model manufactured for prisons. Its clear housing is meant to prevent inmates from using it to smuggle contraband, and, at under thirty dollars, it is the most affordable Sony radio on the prison market.

But what makes this New Yorker piece more interesting to me is…the SRF-39FP is actually a pretty good radio. It uses one AA battery, will run for 40 hours, and:

Others in the online DXing community argue that the SRF-39FP is superior to virtually every other pocket analog radio, praising it for its large tuning thumbwheel, over-all sensitivity and audio quality, and, above all, its reputed indestructibility. Electronics and radio collectors also marvel at features that are normally associated with professional equipment rather than consumer goods: in particular, an exceptional single-integrated-circuit receiver that insures reception in remote locations—or deep within heavy prison walls. In fact, the SRF-39FP was one of the first radios to use the breakthrough CXA1129N integrated-circuit chip, considered by DeBock to be the primary innovation among Sony pocket radios; it helped make the SRF-39FP the smallest and most sophisticated in a line of pocket radios that had launched two decades earlier, in the late nineteen-seventies.

I almost want to pick one up. (I checked; there aren’t any listed on eBay right now.)

(By way of the newsycombinator Twitter feed.)

Posted in Amish, Clippings, Geek, Law, Radio | 1 Comment »

Fundament, hindquarters, hind end, keister, posterior.

Tuesday, January 14th, 2014

Donavan Raynold Hunt, aka “Tanka 2”, is in custody.

Mr. Hunt was involved in an incident last November at a place called the “Quantum Lounge”. (The Statesman does not note if there are any cats in the Quantum Lounge, nor does it mention the living or dead status of said cats, nor does it give a position for said establishment. I think we can safely assume it has zero momentum.)

Anyway, Mr. Hunt was performing with his musical group, “Da Young Outlawz”, when they got into a dispute with some other folks.

The argument became so heated that the club’s management asked Hunt and his friends to leave, according to an affidavit, and both groups went outside and continued to argue. Around 1:40 a.m. on Nov. 8, a fight broke out and Hunt pulled a gun and started to shoot, according to the affidavit. One man was hit in the arm, side and foot, and a second man was hit in the butt.

“hit in the butt”? Are the Statesman writers and editors ten year olds? Couldn’t they have found a better word than “butt”? Perhaps “upper part of the thigh” as a homage to Robert B. Parker? “Posterior” isn’t a bad word, either. You say someone’s been “shot in the posterior” and everyone knows what you’re talking about.

But “in the butt”, Bob? Really?

Posted in Clippings, Law, Media | Comments Closed

Kelly Thomas.

Tuesday, January 14th, 2014

Since I’ve started thinking seriously (as a grown-up adult, not a child) about criminal justice issues, I’ve maintained certain positions.

One of those positions is that the verdict of a jury deserves a certain amount of deference. Yes, I may disagree with the verdict the jury returns. But: they were there in the courtroom. I was not. They watched all the testimony in person. I did not. They were able to see subtle cues of tone and inflection. I was not. At best, what I am basing my judgment on is what I read in the newspaper or saw on TV. These things are subject to conscious and unconscious bias, as well as errors and omissions. How can I question the verdict a jury returns without all the information they had access to? George Zimmerman or OJ Simpson, I’ve always thought the jury should be respected.

But I’m having trouble reconciling that with the acquittals of Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli in the beating death of Kelly Thomas. (Previously. Also previously and graphic image warning.)

How does a jury return a verdict that says hitting a man in the face twenty times with a Taser is okay? How does a jury return a verdict that says telling a man “See these fists? They’re getting ready to [expletive] you up.” and then beating him until he can’t breathe and his blood is pooling on the sidewalk is not, at the very least, involuntary manslaughter? What evidence did they see that we did not?

And is it a compromise of my principles that I’m hoping the Justice Department indicts Ramos and Cicinelli?

Fiat justitia ruat caelum. But what is justice in this case?

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Cops, Law, Rage | Comments Closed

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! watch (#7 in a series)

Monday, January 13th, 2014

In some haste, because I’m out and about. But: as previously announced, and as everyone expected, Robert “Ratso” Rizzo, former city manager of Bell, has pled guilty to “filing a false tax return and conspiring to file a false tax return”.

Rizzo, according to the charges, illegally claimed losses of $409,731 between 2006 and 2009 by falsely claiming his horse ranch outside Seattle as rental property. He also admitted in a plea agreement that he paid for more than $80,000 in personal expenses in 2009 and $120,000 in construction work on his Huntington Beach home in 2010 while claiming they were used for his horse ranch.

Also as expected, Rizzo has agreed to “cooperate with federal authorities”, which is generally being interpreted to mean he’s going to roll on his former subordinate, Angela Spaccia, once she’s actually charged. (Tax charges against her are expected, but have not been filed yet.)

Also as previously discussed, it is expected that Rizzo’s sentence (which could be “up to eight years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine on the tax case”, though I am not a lawyer and am not clear if that’s within the federal sentencing guidelines) will be served concurrently with the twelve years he’s already serving on the other corruption charges he’s pled to. I’d like to see him serve more time, but this is still better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Dunder Mifflin won’t save you.

Saturday, January 11th, 2014

The city of Scranton, Pennsylvania has a problem.

Faced with a $20-million deficit, Scranton had to do some tricky maneuvering to balance its budget and avoid defaulting on loans. Most of this maneuvering has involved increasing taxes and fees paid by the people who still live in the town, which has seen its population drop by half since the 1930s.

How much?

In its 2014 budget, the city raised property taxes and trash fees nearly 60% and tripled rental registration fees. The city’s school district, which faced a $4-million deficit, raised taxes 2.4%.

The city already has a 5% tax on “live entertainment”, is discussing a 10% “drink tax”, and has jacked up parking rates. That’s going to help a lot:

The taxes are especially egregious to some because so many of the city’s residents are elderly and living on fixed incomes. The median household income in Scranton is $37,000, and nearly one-fifth of residents live below the poverty line.

I imagine a lot of those folks are going downtown and drinking in the downtown bars. Both of them. There’s only two left: all the others have gone out of business.

The city’s financial problems were accelerated by a 2011 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that found that the city owed its police and firefighters unions back pay — about $21 million. The settlement money became due in 2013, but the city bickered over how to come up with the funds for so long that Moody’s warned in November that Scranton faced the threat of default.

How bad is it? Many of the city residents quoted in the LAT would welcome a municipal bankruptcy.

“We’re watching what Detroit is doing, and just figure, with all the money we owe the police and all them, we’re going to be broke for the next 20 years, so why not file for bankruptcy?” said Walter David, a lifelong Scranton resident.

Why not indeed?

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Juggalo law.

Wednesday, January 8th, 2014

The Michigan rap group Insane Clown Posse filed suit on Wednesday against the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, saying that the United States government had made the “unwarranted and unlawful decision” to classify fans of the band as criminal gang members, leading to their harassment by law enforcement and causing them “significant harm.”

This by way of a rather cryptic tweet from Popehat:

(Sorry, Mom.)

Not being a lawyer, I’m not sure what Popehat is referring to here as far as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, though I’m hoping it wasn’t just a play on ICP’s most famous quote and we’ll get a fuller explanation later. As a guess, I want to say that Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope may not have standing to sue, as it isn’t clear to me that they have actually been damaged directly by the government’s actions.

Posted in Clippings, IANAL, Law | Comments Closed

Random notes: January 8, 2014.

Wednesday, January 8th, 2014

Jeff Ireland out as general manager in Miami, on the heels of the Mike Sherman firing. This is being spun as “by mutual agreement”:

A club source said Ireland was going to lose much, if not all, of his decision-making power. Owner Stephen Ross intended to hire an executive with personnel authority over Ireland, a situation that was not acceptable to Ireland.

106 individuals charged in a massive, multi-decade long Social Security disability fraud scheme. Included in the indictments are 72 former NYC police officers and eight former NYC firefighters.

More to come. I’m getting a slow start this morning, but I do plan a gun show post as soon as I’m able to get one up. Assuming Lawrence doesn’t beat me to it.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Firings, Law, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Banana republicans watch: January 7, 2014.

Tuesday, January 7th, 2014

This story started breaking this morning, but I wanted to wait for the official word before posting anything.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has decided to drop his re-election bid, and is retiring as sheriff at the end of January.

Sheriff Baca and his department have been a frequent subject of coverage here, most recently as the result of 18 of his deputies being indicted on federal charges. But that’s just part of the story; Baca’s department has a long history of issues, including deputies beating the crap out of each other at the Christmas party, questionable hiring decisions, and questionable tactics. Browse the “California Uber Alles” category for more.

I have the feeling that this is another one of those “pass the popcorn” moments, and I look forward to finding out what happens next.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Legal update part 2.

Friday, January 3rd, 2014

Gerhard Becker has pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and been sentenced to serve one year in jail. With time served and time off for good behavior, it seems likely he will go free in six months.

I’ve written about this case previously. For those who don’t recall: Becker was an architect who remodeled a home in Hollywood Hills. After the final inspection, and after having lied to the inspectors, Becker installed fire pits designed for outdoor use inside the home. The home eventually caught fire, and Glenn Allen, a firefighter with the LA Fire Department, was fatally injured while fighting the fire. Allen’s death resulted in the charge against Becker.

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

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